FSU vs. NC State: How to watch, game thread, preview

From long layoffs to a stream of personnel losses, Florida State Seminoles basketball has been through the ringer this season.

It’s one that, barring a miracle ACC Tournament run, will snap a Seminoles’ four-season streak of making the NCAA Tournament.

“We had guys stepping into different roles,” said head coach Leonard Hamilton this week. “We had guys some being motivated by it, some being depressed about it. Emotions were all over the place so we were struggling a little bit to try to find a way to bring everybody together.”

“Our culture is just getting back to its normal way of operating.”

All of these obstacles and circumstances have highlighted the fight of the team as the regular season approaches its end, with the rapid growth of its fresh faces becoming more and more apparent each week.

The team has a chance to end the year on a three-game winning streak, a mark that would carry momentum heading into the ACC Tournament and in 2022 as whole.

“We’re trying to utilize these moments as teaching moments to help them understand that life will give you these types of challenges,” Hamilton said prior to FSU’s win over Notre Dame. “How you handle [those challenges] will make a difference in how successful you are in a lot of things.”

FSU vs. NC State tips off today at 2 p.m. from Tallahassee, and is set to be broadcast on ESPN2.

Channel

ESPN2

Stream

ESPN, Hulu, FuboTV

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According to DraftKings, the Seminoles are 6.5 point favorites over the Wolfpack.

Game notes via FSU

SEMINOLES LOOKING FOR 10TH ACC WIN OF THE SEASON

Florida State enters Saturday’s game against NC State looking to win its 10th ACC game of the season. It would mark the fourth consecutive year the Seminoles would have reached in double figures for ACC regular season wins and would give the program 50 ACC regular season wins in the last four seasons – a high watermark for the program under Leonard Hamilton. Florida State is 49-23 (.680 winning percentage) in the last four seasons in ACC play – the winningest four-year period in conference play in school history.

FLORIDA STATE AT THE DONALD L. TUCKER CENTER IN THE LAST FIVE SEASONS

Florida State is 86-8 at home in the last five (plus) seasons (.915 winning percentage). The Seminoles have won 86 of their last 94 home games since February 27, 2015. The Seminoles won their final three home games of the 2015-16 season (Notre Dame, Syracuse, Davidson) and have won 83 of 90 home games (.922 winning percentage) in the last five seasons. The Seminoles have lost just four ACC home game since a 77-68 win over Clemson on January 22, 2019. Florida State has won 30 of its last 35 ACC home games since defeating the Tigers and won 25 consecutive ACC home games from January 22, 2019 through March 3, 2021 – the second longest conference winning streak in ACC history. Only Duke, who won 26 straight ACC home games from 1997-2002, has a longer streak than then Seminoles in the history of the ACC.

HAMILTON TO BE INDUCTED INTO FLORIDA STATE HALL OF FAME

The Florida State University’s Athletics Hall of Fame will induct nine new members on Friday, April 8, including men’s basketball coach Leonard Hamilton and All-Americans from six different sports. Hamilton, who is the Seminoles’ all-time winningest basketball coach and currently the fifth all-time winningest coach in ACC history, will be inducted along with one of his former players in star point guard Toney Douglas.

HAMILTON IS THE FIFTH WINNINGEST COACH IN ACC HISTORY

Seminole Head Coach Leonard Hamilton is the fifth winningest coach in ACC history with 393 career wins and ranked fifth in ACC history with 176 career ACC wins at Florida State.

LOOK FOR FLORIDA STATE TO…

…Defeat NC State and earn a two-game regular season series win against the Wolfpack. The Seminoles defeated the Wolfpack, 83-81, earlier this season on January 1 at the PNC Arena in Raleigh;

..Defeat NC State and gain a win over the Wolfpack for the seventh time in the last eight games in the series The Seminoles defeated the Wolfpack, 85-78, in Raleigh and have won seven of the last eight meetings between the two teams;

..Defeat NC State and win its 10th ACC game of the season. It would mark the school record tying fourth consecutive season the Seminoles will have reached double digits in regular season ACC wins. Florida State earned at least 10 ACC wins from 2009-12 (43 total regular season ACC wins) and have currently won at least 11 ACC regular season games from 2019-21 (40 ACC wins).

SEMINOLES AT HOME IN THE TUCKER CENTER

Florida State has won 30 of its last 34 ACC home games since defeating Clemson on January 22, 2019. Since the beginning of the 2016-17 season, the Seminoles have won 47 of their last 54 ACC home games (.870 winning percentage) including 23 of their last 27 since the start of their 2019-20 conference schedule.

SEMINOLES NOW WITH SIX ONE-POINT VICTORIES

Florida State won its sixth game decided by one point with its 64-63 win over Virginia on February 26 in Charlottesville. The Seminoles have defeated five ACC teams by one point (Miami, 65-64 on January 11; Duke, 79-78 in overtime on January 18; at Miami, 61-60, January 22; Clemson, 81-80, February 15 and at Virginia, 64-63 on February 26) and defeated Boston University in a non-conference game (81-80, November 24). The Seminoles are the first team in ACC history to win each of its five ACC games that were decided by exactly one point. The ACC record for games decided by one point for any ACC team is six by Notre Dame during the 2019-20 season. The Fighting Irish were 3-3 in one-point decisions during the 2019-20 season.

Game notes via NC State

• Wake Forest and NC State were tied at 51 with 15 minutes to play, but the Demon Deacons broke open the game, ending with a 101-76 victory over the Pack. Wake Forest’s shooting percentage (60.9%) and points (101) were both the highest allowed by NC State this season.

• Freshman guard Terquavion Smith led NC State with 22 points against Wake Forest. He also had a team- high four assists. Smith has led the Pack in scoring in seven of the last nine games and has led the team in assists in six consecutive games. He has led the team in rebounding in three of the last five games.

• Smith has scored 20 or more points in four consecutive games and is averaging 22.3 points per game during this stretch.

• Smith has made 91 three-pointers this season, which is the most by a freshman in program history and the sixth-most in a single season in program history. He leads the ACC with an average of 3.03 three-pointers per game. He is aiming to be the first freshman to lead the ACC in three-pointers since Duke’s JJ Redick in the 2002-03 season.

• Redshirt-sophomore guard Dereon Seabron leads NC State in scoring, rebounding, assists and steals. Seabron is one of only just three DI players - and the only power conference player - to lead his team in points, rebounds, assists and steals. He has led NC State in scoring 12 times this season, in rebounding 22 times, assists 17 times and steals nine times.